when it seems OK to compromise on software freedom

05 Nov 2010

Stack Exchange is a network of websites built to make the internet
better by providing quality Answers to Questions on specific topics. Its
flagship product is Stack Overflow, which is likely the single most
important programming resource on the web. Part of the reason of this
site's success is the excellent community built around it.

Among the sites that Stack Exchange has built is Unix & Linux, and
it's stated goal is to be THE place to get answers on non-programming
topics related to Unix and Linux-based systems. Note that this family of
comupter system is highly fragmented; there's literally hundreds of
them, though most can further be classified under few families:

Debian (includes Ubuntu)

RedHat (includes SuSE)

BSD

Given that there's a lot of similarities between them, to have one
unified place to ask questions about each of them rocks.

Now that's well and good, until one realises that these StackExchange
sites run on non-FLOSS. Now, consider that there are FLOSS alternatives
to these. Debian folk maintain and participate in an instance of one
such alternative, named Shapado. This instance is a place where one
can ask Debian-related questions, and is in essence a competitor to
StackExchange's Unix & Linux site, and this had me in a seriously
painful dilemma: do I continue using the superior but non-FLOSS service
or the inferior but FLOSS Shapado. The following evaluation makes the
choice real easy: